Callas, Maria

Maria Callas: The Eternal Maria Callas

Maria Callas - At Covent Garden 1962 and 1964

The second half of this recording is an important item in the too-scanty video discography of Maria Callas. Matched with another great singing actor, Tito Gobbi as the lecherous, hypocritical Scarpia, she participates in a textbook demonstration of how Act II of Tosca should be performed. There is a subtlety and nuance in their interactions that one seeks in vain in later, technologically more advanced videos. With a murder onstage, torture offstage, sexual harassment, and deep anguish (beautifully expressed in "Vissi d'arte"), this act provides rich opportunities for these performers, and they take full advantage. You may hear it better sung; you are not likely to see it better acted. The first half, a 1964 recital, offers less scope for acting, and Callas's voice is slightly past its prime, but she performs impressively in the mezzo range in two arias from Carmen. --Joe McLellan

The Art of Singing: Golden Voices of the Century

Maria Callas - The Callas Conversations (EMI Classic Archive)

The Callas Conversations offers some rare and fascinating glimpses of Maria Callas, whose life and art are well-documented by books and records but less so in video formats. What is documented here is mostly Callas as an interview subject, not Callas as an operatic actress who transfixed audiences with her visual presence. The two 1968 BBC interviews are her most important appearances on television. Her conversations with George Lascelles, 7th Earl of Harewood, a dominant figure in English opera, and a friendly, knowledgeable interviewer, put her completely at ease. They discuss her early career (as Isolde and Brunnhilde, believe it or not), her conversion to bel canto, conductor Tullio Serafin who was her mentor, her vocal style, and her (often surprising) views on her best-known roles. Samples of her singing are scattered through the interviews in audio recordings artfully linked with still photos.

Also included (in French with subtitles) are her 1965 interview with critic and organist Bernard Gavoty and three arias ("Adieu, notre petite table," "Ah, non credea mirarti," and "O mio babbino caro") in concert performances conducted by Georges Pretre. This segment is more formal and less revealing than the Harewood conversations but worth seeing. The arias are well-sung concert performances, out of costume and with minimal acting except for facial expressions. --Joe McLellan

The Life of Verdi

"Sumptuously costumed and splendidly staged, this elaborate cinematic biography blends documentary with drama to tell the story of a great artistic genius who became the musical voice of a nation."* Booklist. Filmed on location in Italy, Leningrad, London, and Paris, this epic mini-series took several years to create, requiring more than 100 actors, 1800 extras, and 4000 costumes. This uncut version dubbed in English is 4 hours longer than the edited version that originally aired on Public Television to great acclaim. This spectacular film is filled with Verdi's glorious music, sung in the original Italian and taken from past recordings featuring such operatic legends as Renata Tebaldi, Maria Callas, Luciano Pavarotti, and Birgit Nilsson. Stars Ronald Pickup, who plays Verdi with a "subdued, dignified passion" and Carla Fracci, the famed Italian ballerina, who is "absolutely superb" as Giuseppina Strepponi, Verdi's second wife (Clive Barnes).

Maria Callas - La Callas... Toujours

The career of Maria Callas was just a bit too early and too brief to receive full and satisfying video documentation like that now being accorded to such singers as Renée Fleming and Luciano Pavarotti. This black-and-white televised recital (Callas's Paris debut) took place at the Paris Opera on December 19, 1958 when television was still in its infancy. We might wish that it had happened earlier, when her voice was in better condition, or later, when video recording technology was more advanced--so that, for example, we would not have to take the narrator's word that Callas is wearing a red dress. But this is probably the best available Callas video recording, and her fans will welcome it warmly. Visual elements were as important as the vocal dimensions in her art.

The material, carefully chosen to show Ca